The First Unicorn Creator?
The true potential of creators is yet to be understood.
Hey Friends!
We hope you are doing well and having a super weekend!
Well, the digital economy is surely having a super week- we have our 101st Unicorn! PhysicsWallah, the ed-tech platform joined the unicorn club by raising 100 million dollars. Founded by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, PhysicsWallah has been operational since 2020 specializing in post-high-school entrance test-based content.
PhysicsWallah’s remarkable funding is not surprising given the current boom in edtech
The Indian edtech ecosystem has grown considerably over the last two years; however, recent developments have demonstrated the first-hand importance of an efficient edtech Infrastructure.
Sandeep Singhal, Managing Director, WestBridge Capital
Edtech is currently one of the most lucrative sectors in the creator economy. In a country like India with an inept educational infrastructure and inaccessible traditional mode of education, the growth and popularity of edtech startups are obvious and easily justified. However, what’s interesting is that it’s not just content surrounding school and college curriculums that are gaining ground but even niche-oriented technical courses and cohorts. The latter is creator oriented.
Think about Ankur Warikoo and his personal development courses, Vaibhav Sisinty, and the work he is doing at GrowthSchool, CA Rachana Ranade, and her financial courses, the list is ongoing.
This is not unique to the Indian ecosystem, moreover, platforms like SkillShare capitalize on individual creators and their skillset bring the most niche courses, Lilly Singh, Marques Brownlee, Ali Abdaal, and almost all of our favourite YouTubers are now teachers, leading classes of thousands of students, teaching what they have learned over years in their careers over the course of a few lectures!
Creators are at the forefront of this edtech revolution! We already have edtech unicorns however we think we are not far from having Creator unicorns. We have already talked about the shifting dynamics and increase of faith in individual creators that have led to the funding and claiming stakes in individual creators.
MrBeast subsequently came up with CreativeJuice a company that created a 2 million dollar investment fund for YouTubers and other independent creators. And, he is not alone, there are other such companies actively working towards creator funding. Moreover, platforms like OnlyFans, Buy Me a Coffee, and Patreon, help creators become independent through a subscription model where fans pay creators for access to premium content. This has also helped investors realize there was a strong business case for building tools for creators.
According to the Information, VCs invested $2bn into more than 50 creator-focused startups between January and June of 2021.
The heightened interest from traditional venture capitalists could offer legitimacy to what some may still think is a fringe business. It could also add to the notion that this growing world of dance, chat and comedy is more than ephemeral youth culture.
But as the saying goes, don’t invest in the gold miners — sell them their tools. Silicon Valley appears far more interested in the digital tools and platforms used by the content creators than investing directly in the creators themselves.
The Economic Times
Thus, we are seeing a new trend of investing in creators, in creator-led startups, startups that facilitate creators, and in platforms that are aiding creator monetization. This new surge and distribution of resources and capital in the creator economy point towards a very favourable future, one where we can soon hope to celebrate the first unicorn creator!
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Send us the link to your best piece of work and a small write-up talking about your musical journey; your challenges, your successes, what kept you going, overall opinions on the music industry, your inspirations, anything and everything that you would want us and the community to know!
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